Cole Swensen
Cole Swensen (born 1955) is an American poet, translator, editor, and academic. She is the author of more than 10 poetry collections and as many translations of works from the French. Life Swensen was born in Kentfield, California. She earned a B.A. and an M.A. from San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz She worked as director of the creative writing program at the University of Denver. She then taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa until 2012 when she joined the faculty of Brown University's Literary Arts Program. In France, Swensen has participated in readings and collaborative translation projects with such organizations as the Royaumont Foundation at the beautiful L'abbaye de Royaumont, Columbia University’s Reed Hall, the maison des écrivains et de la littérature http://www.maison-des-ecrivains.asso.fr/ in Paris, Double Change, http://www.doublechange.com/ and Ivy Writers Paris.http://www.ivywritersparis.blogspot.com/ Her life-long commitment to translation is a testament to her belief in the international exchange of words and language, and in the importance of radical and traditional poetries for contemporary society. She is member of the Academy of American Poets, and a contributing editor for the periodicals American Letters & Commentary and for Shiny, and for many years was the translation editor for the online contemporary poetry and poetics review How2.http://www.asu.edu/pipercwcenter/how2journal/ Swensen has written critical articles on poets such as Susan Howe, Anne-Marie Albiach or Claude Royet-Journoud, as well as reviews of poetry for such periodicals and books as: *“The Boston Review” *“The Bloomsbury Review” *anthologies Moving Borders: Three Decades of Innovative Writing By Women edited by Mary Margaret Sloan, (Talisman Editions, New Jersey, 1998) and *''Civil Disobediences'' (Coffee House Press, 2004) *''American Hybrid: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary Poetry'', (W.W. Norton & Company, 2008). Swensen co-edited (with David St. John) this anthology that includes 70 poets seen as creating cross-genre works, mixing traditional or modernist poetry techniques with experimental and postmodern writings She is a regular contributor to periodicals in English: including Chicago Review, American Poetry Review, Boston Book Review, Common Knowledge, Conjunctions, Upstairs at Duroc, Grand Street, New American Writing, and ZYZZYVA.http://www.zyzzyva.org/ She has also translated individual poems for print and online periodicals such as Verse, The Germ, 1913. Online at the extensive Chicago Modern Poetry website,www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com one can discover other poets Swensen has translated including Caroline Dubois http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/caroldubois.html or Sabine Macher,http://www.chicagopostmodernpoetry.com/sabmacher.html and Oulipo poet Michel Gringaud at the drunkenboat publication website http://www.drunkenboat.com/db8/oulipo/feature-oulipo/oulipo/texts/grangaud/calend_en.html or at Free Verse.http://english.chass.ncsu.edu/freeverse/Archives/Spring_2003/poems/C_Swensen.html *Individual poems by Swensen have appeared in French translation: in the reviews “Action Poétique,” "Java," "Vacarme," "Nioque," "Action Poétique," and “Hors-Bords.” She divides her time between Paris, Washington DC and Providence, where she is on the permanent faculty of Brown University's literary arts program. She is also the founder and editor of La Presse, a small press dedicated to the translation and publication in English of contemporary French poetry (such as by Claude Royet-Journoud or Marie Borel). Writing Swenson's work is considered Postmodern and post-Language school, though she maintains close ties with many of the original authors from that group (such as Lyn Hejinian, Carla Harryman, Barrett Watten, Charles Bernstein) as well as poets from all over the US and Europe. Her work is hybrid in nature, sometimes called lyric-Language poetry emerging from a strong background in the poetic and visual art traditions of both the USA and France and adding to them her own vision. Recognition Swensen was awarded a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship. She has also received grants from the Association Beaumarchais and the French Bureau du Livre. Her translation of Jean Frémon’s The Island of the Dead won the 2004 PEN USA Literary Award for Translation. Swensen’s 9th collection of poetry, Goest (2004) was a finalist for the National Book Award.http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2004_cswensen.htm Earlier works have been awarded a National Poetry Series selection, Sun & Moon’s New American Writing Award, the Iowa Poetry Prize via University of Iowa Press, the San Francisco State Poetry Center Book Award, and two Pushcart Prizes. Publications Poetry *''It's Like You Never Left: Poems''. San Francisco: Isis Press, 1983. *''It's Alive She Says''. Point Reyes Station, CA: Floating Island Press, CA, 1984. *''Given''. San Francisco: E.G., 1986. * New Math. New York: William Morrow, 1988. * Park. Point Reyes Station, CA: Floating Island Publications, 1991. *''Walk''. Buffalo, NY: Leave Books, 1994. *''Numen''. Providence, RI: Burning Deck Press, 1995. *''Noon''. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1997. * Try. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1999. *''Pacco Ucello Examines the Sky''. Baltimore, MF: Dolphin Press, 1999. * Oh. Berkeley, CA: Apogee Press, 2000. *''And Hand''. San Francisco: A+bend, 2000. * Such Rich Hour. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2001. * Goest. Farmington, ME: Alice James Books, 2004. *''Paradise''. Oakland, CA: Eucalyptus Press, 2004. *''The Garden as the History of a Queen''. Iowa City, IA: Empyrean Press, 2004. * The Book of a Hundred Hands: Poems. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2005. *''Ghosts Are Hope''. St. Louis, MO: Observable Press, 2006. * The Glass Age. Farmington, ME: Alice James Books, 2007. * Ours: Poems on the gardens of Andre Le Notre.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008. *''Greensward''. Brooklyn, NY: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010. *''Stele''. Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2012. *''On Walks''. Brooklyn, NY: Belladonna, 2013. *''Gravesend''. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2012. Non-fiction *''Noise that Stays Noise: Essays''. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2011. Translated * Olivier Cadiot, Past Travels. Cambridge, UK: Ankle Press, 1994. * Jean Tortel, Interrmittances II. Cambridge, UK: Ankle Press, 1994. * Pierre Alferi, Natural Gaits. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1995. * Oliver Cadiot, Art Poetic. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 1999. * Pascale Monnier, Bayart. New York: Black Square Editions, 2002. * Olivier Cadiot, Future, Former, Fugitive. New York: Roof Books, 2003. * Jean Frèmon, Island of the Dead. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2003. * Jean Frèmon, Distant Noise. Penngrove, CA: Avion, 2003. * Pierre Alferi, Oxo (Kub or). Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 2004. *Olivier Cadiot, Colonel Zoo. Copenhagen & Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2006. * Nicolas Pesquès, Physis. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2007.http://www.parlorpress.com/freeverse/ * Nicolas Pesquès, Juliology. Denver, CO: Counterpath, 2008. * Jean Frèmon, The Real Life of Shadows. Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2009. * Jean Frèmon, The Posthumous Life of RW. Richmond, CA: Omnidawn, 2014. Edited *''American Hybrid: A Norton anthology of new poetry'' (edited with David St. John). New York: Norton, 2009. *''Best American Experimental Writing'' (edited with Seth Abramson & Jesse Damiani). Richmond, CA: Omnidawn, 2014. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.Cole Swensen b. 1955, Poetry Foundation, Web, Dec. 9, 2012. Audio / video *''Poetry Reading, April 14, 2005'' (cassette). Buffalo, NY: Poetry Collection, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2005. *''The Poet's Voice: Cole Swensen and Juliana Spahr'' (CD). Woodberry Poetry Room (Harvard College Library), Houghton Library, 2012. *''Cole Swensen NWS Reading'' (MP3). La Jolla, CA: University of California, San Diego, Dept. of Literature, 2012. Except where noted, discographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Cole Swensen + audiobook, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 3, 2015. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems * Cole Swensen profile & 5 poems at the Academy of American Poets * [http://poolpoetry.com/Swenson%202004.htm excerpt from Ours: The gardens of Andre Le Notre] at Pool. *Cole Swensen b. 1955 at the Poetry Foundation. ;Audio / video *Cole Swensen at YouTube * [http://www.thecontinentalreview.com/cole-swensen/ Video Interview in The Continental Review by ]Jennifer K Dick ;About * Cole Swensen profile & interview at Chicago Postmodern Poetry * [http://www.octopusmagazine.com/issue09/barnadav.htm Octopus Magazine > Review by Hadara Bar-Nadav of The Glass Age > by Cole Swensen] Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:American poets Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Category:American academics Category:San Francisco State University alumni Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:Writers from California Category:American translators Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century poets Category:21st-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:French–English translators Category:Translators to English